


Day One

by oneatatime



Category: Kamen Rider Saber
Genre: Hayato/Calibur is mostly offscreen, M/M, Pre series, am handwaving ages and chronology and so on but if you see any egregious errors please hmu, hc that Kento called Ryo this as a kid, no mention of any kind of abuse other than a shove once the bad father has gone evil, spoilers in that kinda way, this whole thing leads to a hell of a lot of trust issues and parenting issues for both, warnings about bad fathering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26852353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneatatime/pseuds/oneatatime
Summary: Back when Kento’s dad left him behind. Back when Kento still counted the time since his dad left in days.
Relationships: Fukamiya Hayato/Ogami Ryo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15
Collections: Sabtember





	Day One

“What are you DOING, Father?” 

He’d caught up with him four blocks from their cottage, just outside the woods. 

Father turned and smiled at him, but it was an unpleasant smile. Otherwise, Father looked the same as usual. Breathing hard from the run, Kento took a step back. He didn’t want to be afraid of his father. He’d always told him to be brave, to do what was right, to stand firm against evil………. 

But in the last few months, that had changed from do what’s right, to do what _you think_ is right. It’d gone from stand firm against evil, to stand firm against anyone who disagrees. 

Kento didn’t know why. 

But he knew that something was very wrong. He knew that Father had been meeting with strange, scary people. And stealing RideBooks! 

“I’m taking what they owe me, child,” his father purred, dropping to one knee to touch Kento’s hair. It should’ve been reassuring. It wasn’t. Kento managed not to flinch, but only just. “I was going to leave you behind, because you’re small. But you were brave enough to find me here. You should come with me. Help me.” 

This was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, but he knew he was only a kid and there’d be lots more hard things when he grew up. He couldn’t go with his dad. Not when he was stealing from the Sword of Logos. Not when he was probably HURTING people. “I – I don’t want to.” 

Father’s smile was now full of disgust. Or perhaps there’d always been disgust, but Kento just hadn’t seen it.

Kento could feel himself shaking, deep in his bones. Kids should live with their parents. But Mother was dead, and he – he knew how to cook rice and meat and vegetables, right? And how to get himself to school? And there was someone else, too, the only person Father had spoken to lately that didn’t make Kento’s skin crawl - 

He shoved Kento in the chest, sending him sprawling on his back in the grass and weeds. 

“You’ll change your mind later, when you see how they treat you.” 

He turned on his heel, and strode away. Kento watched as he vanished into a portal. 

***

“Oi, oi, what’s this?” 

Kento DID flinch this time, but it was a gentle voice disguised very badly as a loud, rough voice, and it was one that he recognised, and he uncurled himself gratefully at the touch of the hand on his shoulder. 

“Ryo-niisan,” he breathed, throwing himself at the man. 

Ryo-niisan held him for a while, big arms wrapped around him. There was something so comforting about the smell of coffee that rose from him. The grass and flowers around here were beautiful and wild, but Ryo-niisan smelled like an actual person. A grumpy person who needed caffeine to get through each day.

He made the occasional embarrassed sound, but he was smart enough to not tell Kento that everything would be all right, that he’d fix everything. Kento was a kid, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew this was big. He knew he’d now – he’d now lost both parents. 

“I’m going after him,” was what Ryo-niisan said instead. Kento stiffened, small hands fisting again in the front of Ryo’s long blue coat. 

“What should I do?” 

He hated that his voice was so wobbly. 

“Go home, okay? Eat something. I’ll meet you there soon.” 

***

He’d never hated before that he didn’t have any siblings. He’d lost Touma and Luna, and his mother, and now his father. He was completely alone in this small house that’d never felt too big before.

He made himself some soup with beef and carrots, and ate it dutifully. Ryo-niisan had told him to. Ryo-niisan was only twelve or thirteen years older than Kento himself. Maybe seven or eight years younger than Father. 

Maybe Ryo-niisan wouldn’t come back. 

Father was strong. Ryo-niisan was strong, too, but Kento had seen them training together. Ryo-niisan could hit hard, but Father beat him most times. He’d always admired that, and even more admired that the two of them could still be so friendly afterwards. Training sessions always ended with laughter, and sometimes a coffee and a discussion of tactics, and sometimes with one of them in a heap on the floor in their tiny training room and the other one lying next to him, giving him kisses. 

It seemed so nice. And they were both encouraging when he was training, too. Ryo-niisan had shown him a new type of cross-body block last week, and he was looking forward to showing how hard he’d been working on it. 

It’d probably never happen again. Not if Ryo-niisan didn’t come back. 

The spoon clanked on the bottom of the wooden bowl, and Kento blinked down at it. He’d finished his soup. It was getting dark outside. He’d better start getting ready for bed. He had school tomorrow. That didn’t end just because you were all alone. 

He took the bowl to the sink, and dutifully washed it, and placed it in the handcarved wooden rack that Ryo-niisan had made for them. 

No, wait. He had friends in his classroom, and his teacher was nice enough, and maybe a couple of the other Sword of Logos members would check in on him, too. He wasn’t _completely_ alone. He needed to be a grownup about this. Other kids had it harder than he did. 

There was a thump on the front door. 

He froze, staring at it with wide eyes. 

Another thump, as if something had fallen against it. Then the handle turned, and Ryo-niisan stumbled inside. 

Kento stared at him for a long moment, then went to fetch the bandages. 

***

“Hayato doesn’t need me right now,” Ryo-niisan said. There was pain in it, and it wasn’t just because of that big scrape across his cheekbone or because of the bandaged wrist or the sprained knee. But… but Kento found himself able to believe the smile, too, and he smiled back. This was all terrible, but it was also good that Ryo-niisan was here, with him, sitting in the little rocker next to the fire that had always been his. 

Maybe you could feel more than one thing at once. 

Then Ryo-niisan reached out to touch his hair, just like Father ~~did~~ used to do, and Kento inhaled unevenly. He didn’t move. He’d let Ryo-niisan do what he needed to, whatever made him feel better. 

The hand hovered, then went to his shoulder instead. Kento exhaled. 

***

“You don’t want to sleep in there, instead?” 

He usually slept over maybe two or three nights out of every fiveday. Kento was well used to going into his father’s room to find the two of them there, with Ryo-niisan flat on his back in the middle of the bed and snoring softly, and his father curled up next to him. 

Ryo-niisan shook his head, and tried to flop the woven blanket over the spare cot one handed. It didn’t work. He cursed under his breath, then turned it into a really, really badly-acted cough. He made a hopefully guilty face at Kento. 

Kento surprised himself with another genuine smile bubbling up within him. 

“I know all the bad words,” he assured him, taking the blanket. He spread it over the cot, and smoothed it down. 

Ryo shook his head with a grumble, and managed to place the pillow right in the centre. “Fuck, I should be better around kids.” 

Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh. 

“You’re very good, Ryo-niisan.” 

Kento had never meant anything more in his life. 

***

Day One ended with Kento completely unable to sleep. He knocked automatically on his father’s door, then remembered. He padded his way across the rug in the soft moonlight to stand at the entrance to Ryo-niisan’s little alcove, instead, telling himself that he shouldn’t interrupt. Ryo-niisan was injured, and needed his rest. 

Ryo-niisan’s eyes were open. He lifted one side of the blanket. 

Kento wanted to protest. He wasn’t a little kid, and Ryo-niisan wasn’t his father. 

“It’s not your fault.” 

Kento gulped. 

“They’re both gone.” 

Ryo-niisan nodded, and the moonlight glinted on his hair. “Yep. Neither one because of you. I wouldn’t be here if you were an asshole- Dammit! I wouldn’t be here if you were a bad kid!” 

Kento was under the covers and clinging to him, inhaling that coffee scent, before he’d made the correction.


End file.
